Quarter Quelled
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [Frontier, AT] They were blown right out of the fight and then it froze - or so they thought. All the spirits were on their side of the world, or so they thought. Which means Duskmon, the only undefeated warrior of Cherubimon, is on their side as well. Which he is. Kind of.
1. 1

**A/N:** Written for the digimon bingo - the non-flash version, #025 - quarter, for the Becoming the Tamer King Challenge, Training Peak task, and for the mega prompts challenge, dialogue prompts #048 - "I don't want this anymore." All prompts apply to the fic in its entirety.

* * *

 **Quarter Quelled**  
 **1.**

The force of the explosion sweeps them off their feet and out of that world.

Takuya reaches out; his claws grasped a small hand - Chakkmon's - and he hears Beowolfmon shouting and metal grinding - his sword, Takuya thinks, trying to find something firm to dig into. Except they're blown into the sky and there is only air, cold and grey.

And then there isn't even that. Just a blackness that swallows all sight and sound, and Takuya tries to scream - where are Izumi and Junpei? - but his breath is stuck in his throat and he only chokes instead.

He chokes until everything else vanishes from his mind, until something hits him on the head and he blinks, his ears ringing, at the elevator shaft he's lying in - and the elevator's moving up, slow and groaning with the weight of five human children on board.

The same elevator that brought them to the digital world in the first place.


	2. 2

**Quarter Quelled  
2.**

He sits up blearily. The sun is too bright, even though they're indoors. And the people are too loud.

The others sit up as well: slowly, disorient. The scene is a foreign one at first, but then they remember: remember what they'd left, where they'd come to. But there was something...different. Too bright. A bit cold as well. There was a chill in the air the lightly dressed dwellers didn't seem to note.

The chill follows them into the evening sun, under the clock tower that saystwenty past six and no date at all, not telling them how long they've been gone, how worried their families have been, what has changed for them...

They wander. They shouldn't linger, if they are home, but they lingered still. Are their digital selves dead? Or is their role simply done?

It feels like there is more to do - but how, when they've been tossed into their own world like they've done nothing at all?


	3. 3

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **3.**

They go home, and it turns out it's what they left. Shinya is still waiting to blow out the candles. Junpei's mother is still waiting for him to fetch some flour and chocolate from the store (and they're in his backpack too - go figure), and Yutaka is still annoyed that his little brother got away from him.

But though things are the same, they've changed. Takuya plays a game with Shinya instead of ignoring him. Junpei gets the chocolate home without eating it all (despite them having been eaten by the Pagumon once already, and then somehow returned), and Tomoki apologises instead of complaining, and Yutaka blinks and accepts it.

And Kouji remembers the flowers too - though it's a little late because his father has a serious expression on his face, and his step-mother is collecting their coats (including his) and he's being told to let the dog out and give him some food, because they might be late getting home. And he knows he left on the day of their anniversary, but something still isn't clicking about the scene: about the worry, about the guilt, about the way his father's eyes keep on flicking to him, and he simply can't remember whether he'd stalked out of the home and deserved a grounding or not.


	4. 4

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **4.**

'Are you okay?' his father asks.

Kouji nods. He's still trying to remember the day he left behind - it had been months in the digital world - but it wasn't something he could explain. He wouldn't to his father anyway.

He nods, looking distracted himself. 'Well...you're probably wondering where we're going.'

He is.

'The hospital.' He pauses a moment, then blurts out: 'To visit your brother.'

He blinks. He's sure he's heard that wrong. 'Your brother?' he asks. He has uncles, though he rarely sees them.

'Yours.' His father gulps. 'It's -'

'- a bit of a long story,' Satomi sighs. 'We didn't plan on telling you like this, but...it can't be helped.'

He's still confused. 'You're pregnant?'

She laughs. It's short and over too quickly. 'No. Kouichi-kun is -'

'Your twin,' Kousei explained.

His mind screeches to a halt.


	5. 5

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **5.**

Takuya is ansty, suddenly. Their father is home and has endured a hug for the both of them, and now Shinya is complaining about the lack of a forklift and Takuya has a bit of time to himself.

He takes out his D-scanner. It's still that: not his phone, and it's proof that the Digital World really happened and he's glad, he's glad it's not a dream. And he's not Fladramon either, which must be a good sign. And there's no Duskmon haunting him.

But where was Duskmon? And where were Ofanimon and Cherubimon for that matter? Where was the Digital World? He didn't like the sense of incompleteness that hung, the sudden jarring stop to their adventure.

The rest of his family is in the kitchen. He searches the memory bank. There's Agnimon, and Vritramon. There's the spirits of metal and the beast spirit of earth as well. They've all come through the gate.

'Ni-san? What's that?'

Shinya's back. 'Nothing.' He puts it quickly away. 'So, what happened to the forklift?'


	6. 6

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **6.**

Kouji knows he's not dreaming. Or maybe he is. He can feel his D-scanner in his pocket, heavier than his phone used to be. He can feel a coldness about him, from those oppressing white hospital walls. He can feeling something pushing him away, as his father and stepmother lead him through the maze.

Maybe it's the shock. Maybe it's the expectation someone's going to yell "Got you!", even though he knows it's true. He knows because something in his heart tells him it's true, the same thing that refuses to let go of his mother...and now he knows why. It's because she's been alive all this time. Because she'll be there, where they're going now.

He stops walking. His mother will be there. And a brother he hadn't known he had. A different life to what he'd had before the Digital World. The secret he'd been promised to know.

It's a powerful one. Greedy, dizzying. Black blots the angles of his eyes. Doesn't he want to go? Is it because he's afraid? Of a mother he'd thought was dead? Of a brother he doesn't even know?

He falls before he realises it's neither of those, but the shadows curling up the walls.


	7. 7

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **7.**

He feels strange, like he was somewhere and something before, and now...isn't. And he's content enough since everything more substantial (the world, perhaps?) is beyond him.

Until it's suddenly not beyond him. And he doesn't know what's caused it, or who, but there's suddenly something suffocating about this not-place he floats in. And something that shoves him back like a brick wall, so he is propelled in a space that has gained enough form to tear at him.

He's still not sure if it, that strange space, is trying to hold on to him or throw him out, and he doesn't know how he feels about it either.

The brick wall though is clear. It hurts and he hates it.


	8. 8

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **8.**

Something's screaming. He can't call it a someone until it is - a voice he barely remembers, yelling his name. And a quieter voice he knows very well, though it's filled with fear and pain the likes he's never heard before. Or perhaps he has. There is a sense of familiarity there as well.

He knows before he opens his eyes that it's his parents - his birth parents - hovering over him.

For a moment, he wonders where Satomi is. He opens his eyes and spots her, talking to a nurse.

And then he looks at his birth mother for the first time in nine years. A mother he thought had been dead. And the emotions fly out of his heart - except the one that makes him open his arms and her give a watery smile and sweep him up into a hug.

It's not enough. Not enough to sate. Or forget and forgive. But it's the most important thing.

Until he remembers his brother.


	9. 9

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **9.**

They don't let him see Kouichi that evening, because of his fainting spell, and part of him is relieved. He's confused enough about things.

In the darkness of his room, he lets them brew, until he falls into an uneasy sleep.

For some reason, his dreams are about the digital world. The other warriors fell quickly in reality and they fall quickly now as well, but then Duskmon is there to replace them and he's more powerful than the other four combined. More powerful than them combined as well. They're already down and only he, only Wolfmon, is still standing and the pair of them cross swords.

There is a shower of sparks, and then a brief struggle as Kouji finds his ground slipping away from him. And it's not because he's waking up. Duskmon had pushed him down.

Five against one, and Duskmon had defeated them all.


	10. 10

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **10.**

'I was sure I'd have nightmares.'

Takuya is rarely confused like that. Usually, he does the confusing. But Kouji's greeting throws him for a bit of a loop. 'Because of the digital world?'

'No.' Kouji sounds tired, and frustrated, and confused - which is another oddity. Kouji is usually the one with the answers, the one who's sure about things, who's got the plan all sorted out. 'I dreamt about the digital world. And I have no idea why, after everything that happened last night.'

'Night?' That explained it. Sort of. Evening and night were spent at their respective homes, getting back to their usual lives. And it sounded like Kouji's had come with a few wrenches.

'Yeah. Turns out my mother's alive, and I've got a brother who got into some sort of accident and is in the hospital, and -'

'What?' Takuya blinked. Kouji had mentioned his mother, or lack thereof. And lack of siblings too. And now both spring out of the ground? '...wait, there's an "and" in there too?"


	11. 11

**Quarter Quelled  
11.**

Maybe it's a mistake to call Takuya. But Takuya has somehow wormed his way into the best friend position, so he's the best pick for the job. And Kouji really needs to talk. And not to his parents, and he still isn't comfortable with Satomi, and his brother is in a coma so a no go - not that that's an option at the point where neither of them really know each other...

Which leaves the friends he's made in the digital world, and Takuya is at the top of that list. But all they've gained so far is him babbling out an explanation that seems to leave Takuya more confused than before.

But maybe he's also not giving Takuya enough credit, because he gives a passable summary on the first try.

And whistles at the gravity of it all. 'That's a confusing muddle to be dealing with. I wouldn't have been surprised if you forgot the digital world entirely for a moment there.'

'I did,' Kouji said flatly. 'Which is why I've no idea why I dreamt about it.'

'Can't help you there,' Takuya said, after a brief pause. 'I was the one thinking about Duskmon, and you're the one who dreams about him. Go figure.'


	12. 12

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **12.**

Kouji thinks, once he hangs up the phone, that he's helped Takuya out more than Takuya's helped him, but he feels a little lighter anyway. He still doesn't know how he should feel, whether he should be angry at both parents for lying about two such enormous things, angry at Satomi for ruining any chance of them getting back together, angry at his brother for being the reason it's all coming to light now...

Suddenly, he remembers Ofanimon's words, and wonders if this is the secret she promised him. But there's no relation to the digital world, so he pushes it out of his mind again. There are more important things. His family. And whatever happened to the digital world.

Takuya is right, in that he'd barely thought about the digital world since he'd gotten home. And they'd left it in such a mess as well.

What's happened?


	13. 13

**Quarter Quelled  
13.**

'The spirits we captured are here as well.' Takuya plays with his sweet wrapper. It seems almost a shame to open it, with how nicely Junpei's mother has wrapped the little sweets. 'Which leaves only Duskmon.'

'Duskmon's running a rampage on the other side?' Tomoki shivers. Duskmon had picked him up in his beast spirit form and thrown him into the trees. 'I wish we knew why we were suddenly blown out of there?'

'I guess Ofanimon and Cherubimon's strongest attacks colliding like that were too much for the barrier.' Junpei's unwrapped his own sweet, but he just stares at it. 'Actually, if that's the case, it's more likely Duskmon's on this side, with us. We were all about the same distance away.'

Somehow, that sounds worse. And they don't even know which is true.

'Either way, we need to find a way back to the digital world.' Izumi sucks her sweet. It melts nicely in her mouth, but her mind is distracted by other things. 'Ofanimon needs those spirits. And she needs us.'

'We weren't much of a help against Duskmon,' Kouji mutters.

The others stare at him in some surprise.


	14. 14

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **14.**

'Don't you want to go back?' Tomoki asks.

Kouji hadn't really thought about it before then, but he doesn't really know. 'Things are a bit of a mess,' he says.

Takuya glances at him. Kouji nods. Takuya explains. The other's eyes go wide, though not with pity and he's grateful for that. He doesn't think he can handle pity from his friends on top of everything else.

'Well...' They're at a loss as well. Of course they are. It's a family problem. But still... 'I think you should see your brother. If you could talk with him, that would be wonderful. You're in the same sort of boat.'

'I'm not in the hospital in a coma,' Kouji points out, and he feels a stab of annoyance. It would be so much easier if they could talk, because that's the only relationship not likely to be clouded with anger here. But they can't.

'It's sad.' Her expression is sorrowful. 'That a near tragedy is what it took.'

No-one tells him he should be estatic his mother is alive after all. And he's grateful for that.


	15. 15

**Quarter Quelled**  
 **15.**

Kouji's father drives them to the hospital again. It takes a bit of convincing, and eventually it is Satomi who pushes through the win. 'It's what he needs,' she says. And Kouji's father relents.

The walls are as glaringly bright as yesterday, and the shadows seem to follow at a distance as he follows his father to the room. His mother is not there this time, and he feels guiltily relieved. One less confusion to deal with, until he knows how to be with her.

He remembers the hug from yesterday and he likes it. But he remembers all the time he thought he was dead and that hurts.

He doesn't remember his brother at all and so he can face the door he lies behind.


End file.
